Irish FA President Conrad Kirkwood has presented medals to a squad from Belfast Met Football Academy who won a special cup competition in Romania.
The Belfast Met players represented Northern Ireland at the FAIRER Cup, which was staged in Bucharest last month.
The Irish FA Foundation ran the FAIRER Erasmus Project (Football Against Radicalisation) in partnership with the football federations of Romania, Malta and Latvia, as well as the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy, over a 30-month period.
And the cup competition in Romania formed part of the project aimed at tackling radicalisation in football; Erasmus is a European programme for education, training, youth and sport.
At the FAIRER Cup tournament 10 young people from Belfast Met aged 17-19 played teams from Romania, Malta and Latvia.
The Irish FA President, who presented the squad with their cup winners’ medals today at a ceremony staged at the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park, said: “I am super proud of the team’s achievements. It was great to see Belfast Met partnering with us as part of the project.
“It was also great that Erasmus had the foresight to introduce a programme aimed at tackling radicalisation.”
He said it was good that the association was able to provide the team from Belfast Met with an opportunity to take part in an international competition.
The Irish FA President also pointed out the FAIRER Project had enabled the association to help other countries on their journeys to eliminate radicalisation and violence.
The six-a-side FAIRER Cup competition, featuring mixed teams, was staged following an end of project conference in the Romanian capital.
Northern Ireland enjoyed 7-1 and 4-0 wins against Latvia and Romania respectively before drawing 1-1 against Malta, and that draw proved enough for the Belfast Met team to be crowned overall champions.
Mark Dennison, the Irish FA Foundation’s Community Engagement Manager, assisted the Irish FA President in handing out the medals at today’s ceremony. He pointed out the players had demonstrated pride and professionalism in wearing the green shirt and embraced inclusivity throughout all matches at the tournament.
Through the FAIRER Erasmus Project (Football Against Radicalisation) workshops were delivered by the foundation to a range of partners, including UEFA, The Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters’ Clubs, NIFL and NIFL clubs, PSNI and community groups.
More than 1000 people were part of the project, the aim of which was to discuss, propose and implement solutions for associations, clubs, supporters’ groups and communities to help eliminate radicalisation and violence.
Medals Presentation
